JulieBhosaleAchive

A year ago today I officially graduated from my Doctoral thesis. A four and a half year undertaking during which I gave birth to my two beautiful boys and also had another pregnancy which we lost. This photograph which my friend Kerry took captures the essence of the day. I have not shared this photo before. It was a moment which I dreamed of and visualised thousands of times during that period. The moment when I was about to walk across the stage and be granted my thesis. The look on my face says everything. I was fighting back tears feeling a huge roller coaster of emotions- as I thought back on the nearly five year journey that had led me to that moment. All the times I was so close, so very close to giving up – literally I think over that time I had drafted at least five emails to my supervisors saying I was going to pull out. That first harsh winter with our eldest son when he was about 8 months old and we were in hospital just before my data collection was due to start. The loss ...

Nourishment for your body is not just with food. Our skin is our largest organ – what we put on this (and our hair) does really matter. Our skin is very permeable so it absorbs a large percentage of what we put on it. For this reason, I have always used ecostore products, especially the baby range with my boys. The ecostore is a New Zealand based company which began here in 1993 and only uses plant and mineral based ingredients in their amazing range of products. I still get nostalgic about their Baby Sleepytime Bath which I used when the boys were small enough to fit in the kitchen sink! We are well and truly beyond the new born stage (for now!) so I was very happy when the new kids range was launched earlier this year…and now they have another new addition to these products! Taming Wild Locks Both our boys have been blessed with beautiful mops of thick hair. Our first son somehow sprouted ringlet curls which I held of cutting these as long as possible (until he was nearly three). Wh...

August the 26 th 2017 in Auckland marks the official kick-off to our massive 10:20 starting solids tour. It has been months of work behind the scenes – but we are pumped with that mixture of excitement and nervousness. Ages back… when I was writing my book…my husband and I were talking about the tours and what cities to go to. I wanted to reach as many people as possible so we decided just go for it and go as big as we could – taking the boys with us. While having a break from them is always welcome (and sleep too) in order to travel the country for the period of time we have planned, leaving them at home was just not going to be an option. I did not want to be away from them that long AND we would have struggled to get help with this too. More importantly, none of this would have been possible without them. Doing it as a family was the way forward. Truly merging my passion, our lives and business together. And so the 10:20 tour was born. First job was for me to finish writing the boo...

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog 'The Healthiest Yoghurt' and it got a massive response. To be honest there were so many different yoghurt varieties in the supermarket in order to do the kids options justice I needed to write an entire blog just on this! If you have not yet read that blog I would highly recommend you do as it will provide some context around this comparison. What I was really looking for in the yoghurt options for children was the sugar content. Children do not need any added sugar in their products - none! Keep in mind these kids yoghurts are what some babies will first taste, what infants and toddlers be given - all during the most important period of time for developing food preferences and tastes. If a baby is given yoghurt with added sugar there is very little chance that they will then have unsweetened yoghurt later on. If a toddler has had sweetened yoghurt for the best part of three years that is habit, a taste preference which is going to be chall...

It is no secret that I love slow cookers, also know as crock pots! We easily have at least two a week. Being a working mum they literally save my sanity come 5pm. Every year we do a special slow-cooker week so I was keen to create something new for this year. Based on the requests of some of my lovely VIP members I made this chicken curry using a whole chicken. Not only does this make it really easy for feeding a family but also cost effective. This whole meal cost less than $15!!! Plus having the chicken whole makes presentation really nice. My inspiration for this recipe came from one of my favourites in Healthy Easy Dinners for Busy Mums as well as Jamie Oliver's famous chicken in milk recipe. Soft succulent chicken still with nice crispy skin and seasonal vegetables...there was not much left over in our house! Ingredients 1 whole chicken Extra virgin olive oil (for browning the chicken) 4-6 baby potatoes 1/2 head of cauliflower 1 can of coconut cream 3 tsp of turmeric 6-8 Bay l...

Now I know I had you at the title of this recipe but I feel that I may just need to reassure you a bit more that these 'energy bombs' are indeed not just enticing but also good for you! These are what you would call high fat - they are very much packed full of good fat from peanut butter, coconut oil and butter. There has been a lot of emerging research around the importance of fat - including saturated fat. A lot of the work I do with mums one-on-one (especially in my kick-start package ) is looking at this and ways to increase these fats to help prevent cravings. This is where I find these energy bombs to be gold - or rather chocolate peanut buttery bites of gold! With next to no carbohydrate or sugar (except what is naturally there a little bit) these will not produce a big blood sugar spike at all AND provide much needed energy - ideal for that dangerous 3pm time (or breastfeeding marathons!). My only disclaimer here is that these are not sweet, and do taste high in fat (wh...

Sleep for anyone with small children is basically a distant memory, however winter seems to add an extra factor into the mix. Getting out of bed to re-settle or feed little ones in the cold feels like an endurance event and there is a much higher possibility of little ones waking more too. As far as wellbeing is concerned sleep is very much a key cornerstone (I have an entire chapter on this in The Nourished Baby for this reason!). In this blog I shed light on some the science behind sleep in winter time for your bubs, along with some tips which just may help you to stretch out those sleep times during these months. Regulating Temperature Did you know that when you are pregnant your baby's temperature is very nicely regulated inside your womb? However, the ability to regulate body temperature is a physiological adaption developed once outside that snug oven. When first born, a newborn baby is unable to shiver, which mean they will struggle to regulate their temperature all on their...